Chapter 12

Ehawee handed me a cup of broth without saying a word. I tried to sit up and felt myself blacking out as I rose. Frantically I looked around for Josie and saw her lying next to me covered with a blanket. I gave a sigh of relief seeing that she was safe. Managing to sit up I looked around to find that Ehawee had located my horse and what must have been the three horses the bushwhackers' rode.

"Alex, are you all right?" Josie asked. I began to drink the broth. My mouth felt like I had been in the desert and I wasn't sure I could talk until I drank something.

"I'll live." I managed to croak out. "What happened to the last guy? I saw him drop down when I shot the others, but I know I didn't hit him."

"Ehawee and I managed to take care of him. He tried to take the rifle from the scabbard on the saddle and Ehawee stabbed his hand. When he rose up to pull it out I shot him with my pistol."

"Are you all right, Josie?"

"I hurt my leg when I fell off the horse. It might be broken."

I felt a little better after I managed to drink down a couple of cups of the broth. I checked Josie's leg and found she had broken it. I looked at her, "I'm going to have to pull the leg straight before I can set it and it's going to hurt when I do, Josie. Do you want a leather strap to bite on?"

"No, I'll be alright."

I could see her getting nervous as I made my preparations to set her leg. She nodded when I offered her the strap again. Placing one leg between her legs, I grasped the broken leg with both hands and slowly pulled as hard as I could, feeling the leg stretch until the bone went back into place. Grabbing the sticks I had gathered, I placed them around her leg and tied them with straps I cut from one of my shirts. Josie had fainted while I was setting her leg but she never made a sound.

Ehawee looked at her with an expression of concern on her face. After I finished Ehawee cradled her head on her lap, crooning wordlessly as she stroked Josie's hair.

I tried to check Ehawee out for injuries, but she kept flinching every time I came near her. Finally I gave up and checked my wound out. It had scabbed over and seemed to be fairly clean but I didn't want to take any chances with infection. I managed to pour some water in one of the pots we had. Boiling the water and the remaining cloth from my shirt; I began to clean the wound. It hurt worse cleaning it out than when I was shot, especially when I poured some alcohol in it. I wasn't as stoic as Josie. I yelped when the alcohol hit the raw flesh. I wrapped some cloth around the gouged-out crease and with Ehawee's help managed to set up the tent, lay out the blankets and get Josie on one of them.

This was as much as I could manage. I felt like I was ready to drop. I knew that we needed to keep an eye out for anyone else, but I just didn't have the energy to do it. The last thing I saw that day was Ehawee's gleaming eyes watching me from across the small fire.

I felt a lot better when I woke up the next morning. Ehawee was spooned next to Josie cuddled in her arms. I must have woken them up when I moved. Josie spoke up, "Alex, could you help me take care of the necessities?"

I helped her up and with Ehawee's help we managed to hobble to the bushes where we all took care of our personal business. I looked at her leg again and saw that it was swollen and bruised. "You're not going to be able to go anywhere for a couple of days with that leg. Can you take care of yourself while I go back to town and pick up a wagon?"

I gave her one of my revolvers and saddled up. When I got back to Jacksonville I spoke to the shopkeeper again.

"I thought you were headed north", he said.

"We got bushwhacked by the three yahoos in the store I had trouble with. They missed. I didn't."

He got a concerned look on his face, "What about the girl and the woman?"

"My sister has a broken leg. The girl's fine. I need to find a wagon to bring her back here."

"You can't stay here. Those three weren't worth anything, but they did have friends. You come here and they find out you killed them, they'll hang you."

I knew he was right. I could protect myself but not if I also had to protect the women too. Any man could be taken by enough people.

"Is there a farm where I can stay until my sister can travel?"

"Well there is Jake's place. He's a breed though."

I didn't understand why he had mentioned that until I remembered the attitude of the so-called white society. Even as little as one-sixteenth of a different race made someone not "white" and most would not associate with them in this time period. "Where can I find Jake?"

"You'll find him over at the Miner's Bar. He'll be upstairs with one of the girls and should be done fairly soon. You can't miss him, he looks like an Indian."

"Know where I can find a wagon?"

"Jake brought his in to pick up supplies; that's why I mentioned him. Other than that there's not a wagon to be had for love or money."

The guard at the door of the Miner's Bar insisted that I leave my gun with him before he'd allow me to come in. This was common in many bars as guns and alcohol made a bad combination. This didn't mean that there were no guns, just that they weren't openly worn. I had gotten in the habit of carrying a small derringer with me when I had to leave my gun with someone. Unlike most of the movies I had seen in the future, most towns had gun ordinances that prohibited the open carrying of guns in town.

I slipped the guard two bits to let Jake know I wanted to talk to him. Most of the people here were farmers with a small percentage of what looked to be prosperous miners. I felt more relaxed when I saw this. The men I had trouble with were the type who followed every rumor hoping to strike it rich quickly without laboring too hard. I ordered a beer and sat back, listening to the conversations while I waited.

"You hear about the fuss around Salem?" one of the men was saying to his companion. "Some Baptist minister is raising hell about some families in the area having several wives and niggers being treated just like white folks. He's swearing that he'll either bring them back to righteousness or destroy them. Gotten the folks in Salem all hot and bothered about it. There'll be trouble soon since the town they are in seems to support them."

I was about to question him more about what he knew when Jake come up to my table. "I heard you wanted to talk to me."

I waved him to have a seat and saw several men looking at us with hostility, but no one said anything. Jake ordered a beer and looked at me with curiosity. "You don't seem to mind sitting with someone who looks like an Indian."

"Are you an honest man?"

"I like to think so."

"Then nothing else matters."

He sat back and thought about that for a moment then smiled. It transformed his face. He had looked like a man you wouldn't want mad at you and became one who you would want to become friends with. "I haven't seen you around here before."